The Research Directorate in DENOSA is located under the DENOSA Professional Matters and forms part of the professionalism component of the organization. This Unit is the hub of knowledge in nursing and health care issues in the organization. Through its involvement with other units within the organization and its relationships with other professional societies, trade unions, and research institutes outside DENOSA, the unit also aims to influence policy affecting health and the nursing sector in the country.

Very central to the research unit, is the Policy Unit which consists of the following clusters; Research Policy, Health Policy and Nursing Education, Socio-economics, Project Impact, Informatics and Knowledge management and the membership cluster. These different clusters are managed by different individuals supported by the Research Unit.

The mandate of the Research Unit can be summarized as a three-fold in that it is aimed to serve both DENOSA’s trade union activities, coordinate the Policy unit’s activities and facilitate the Institute’s activities. Within the Institute, the Research Unit conducts systematic reviews, formative and summative evaluations of the courses offered in the DPM and assists DPM students with their research projects. Some of the research activities currently underway are; creating an innovative DENOSA brand, designing, conducting impact evaluations of projects within the organization, and conducting research on staffing norms research in Primary Health Care facilities